Denied entry @ airport, impact future L2/H4 visa application?

[maximumsam 0]

Hi all:

My girlfriend had her phone searched and was denied entry at the border because there was a chat of her talking about potentially reselling fashion goods in US. She holds an F1 visa and was finishing her last semester in college. So apparently the officer deemed her suspicious of illegally operating business and rejected her entry.

 

She asked if this is a formal ban of entry for multiple years and the answer was No. (meaning the officer didn't clearly claim whether she straight up barred from admission in the future)

 

I'm currently working in Canada for a US based company and the plan was to acquire L1 or H1B (if I'm luck to get the lottery pick) later this year, and we'll marry in our country and apply L2/H4 visa for her. I'm worried this denial of entry for F1 may negatively impact her application for L2/H4?

 

I had the impression that both L1/2 and H1B/H4 are visa types that comes with "Dual intent", meaning "allow foreigners to be temporarily present in the U.S. with lawful status and immigrant intent". But I don't know if that would rule out the possibility of her L2/H4 application being affected by this incident 😥 What's the odds here?

 

Thanks a lot for any help!

Edited January 19, 2019 by maximumsam

[Boiler 43,430]

Why did they search her phone, certainly not normal?

 

Was she allowed to withdraw her application for entry.

 

L2 would require EAD to work, H4 does not come with work authorisation.

[maximumsam 0]

9 minutes ago, Boiler said:

Why did they search her phone, certainly not normal?

 

Was she allowed to withdraw her application for entry.

 

L2 would require EAD to work, H4 does not come with work authorisation.

Thanks Boilder for the reply

 

1. there was really no apparent reason. They started randomly look for peoples (especially foreign students) phones for anything they deem as suspicious. Her background is rather clear. If there is anything I would've mentioned it, since I'm here seeking for help 🙂

 

2. which "application  for entry" were you referring to?

 

3. I'm aware with that about EAD. Espcially there is plan killing H4 EAD. But for now I'm just worried she won't even be able to legally enter US.

Edited January 19, 2019 by maximumsam

[HonoraryCitizen 179]

22 minutes ago, maximumsam said:

I'm worried this denial of entry for F1 may negatively impact her application for L2/H4?

It may although it should not because she didn’t get banned and L visas allow dual intent. But bottom line nonimmigrant visas are issued at the pleasure of consular officers regardless of whether USCIS has approved the underlying petition. A harsh consular officer could say well she’s previously shown she’s not averse to breaking the law, so she might do so again, we don’t want law breakers and then deny the visa based on that. And unfortunately their decision cannot be appealed.

 

My advice is you must think positive. In life do not allow future events whose certainty you are unaware of and which you cannot do anything about to steal your present joy.

Edited January 19, 2019 by HonoraryCitizen

[WeGuyGal 1,052]

The current world we live in offers CBP additional freedom to do random searches of baggage and phones. It isnt normal though. CBP could have suspected something in either her responses or behavior. F1 and H1/L1 abuses have been on the rise, and gf got caught with her hands in the cookie jar.. not only working illegally, but perhaps copyright infringement too? 

 

No guarantees this wouldn't affect her future NIV attempts in the near future. What country was she coming from? 

[maximumsam 0]

1 minute ago, WeGuyGal said:

The current world we live in offers CBP additional freedom to do random searches of baggage and phones. It isnt normal though. CBP could have suspected something in either her responses or behavior. F1 and H1/L1 abuses have been on the rise, and gf got caught with her hands in the cookie jar.. not only working illegally, but perhaps copyright infringement too? 

 

No guarantees this wouldn't affect her future NIV attempts in the near future. What country was she coming from? 

There is no mention of copyright infringement by officer throughout the event and I don't think she has any in her phone. She isn't engaged in any kind of employment or business in US. That chat was just to discuss the plausibility of reselling. But I guess that was bad enough. We both come from China.